the complete box set is incomplete, there are quit a few lost episodes from the original runs, i luv the show, old and new(i usta stay up all night watching it when pbs would run pledge drive dr who marathons, as for the new series i luv that to, but think tenant is a better dr.

I love Dr. Who, always have. Personally I think either William Hartnell or Colin Baker were the worst. Hartnell wasn't specifically bad, but the series just doesn't compare well to those that followed. Colin Baker, however, was mostly forgettable. Sylvester McCoy, at his peak, was the best Doctor IMO. He could be downright creepy at times.

When I was a kid, my older brother loved Doctor Who and I was scared to death of it. I don't even think I ever actually watched the show, I was just freaked out by the theme music. I didn't plan on watching the new Who, but a friend got me watching the Father's Day episode, and then I caught the "Are you my mummy" episode, and I eventually got around to getting Eccleston's season on DVD. But for whatever reason, I still didn't watch it. Several months later (actually, a few weeks ago), I was bored one night and had nothing else to watch, so I finally started watching the DVDs, and I was hooked pretty quickly. I bought the David Tennant season on DVD the day it came out. It's a fun show, definitely a little goofy, but it reminds me a lot of the first couple seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, just in its general attitude of cheekiness toward the strange and unusual occurances that happen.

As I've only seen the Eccleston and Tennant seasons, I feel I can't really comment on who my favorite Doctor is. I liked both of them though.

Just wanted to mention that tonight march 10, iowa public television showed the first two Christopher Eccleston Doctor Who episodes as part of pledge week, but mentioned that they would be adding them to their regular schedule soon. It's the first time I've seen any PBS stations showing the new series and although I've already seen them on the SciFi Channel, it will be nice to see them uncut and commercial free. I know the Doctor doesn't play on as many public stations as it used to, but the Iowa network has shown it consistently for more than 20 years.

the complete box set is incomplete, there are quit a few lost episodes from the original runs, i luv the show, old and new(i usta stay up all night watching it when pbs would run pledge drive dr who marathons, as for the new series i luv that to, but think tenant is a better dr.

I may be wrong on some details, but I believe in the 70's many episodes of old BBC shows including Doctor Who were destroyed or stolen. For some reason the BBC only kept single copies of it's shows in one location. Some shows were actually destoyed on purpose, just to make room. Basically, they just decided to record over there own tapes. They were fortunate to recover many of the shows from Australia and Canada. I'm not quite sure what the BBC was thinking. Now the BBC's resorting to doing things like using software to recreate missing frames of the show from poor 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation copies of the shows they so haphhazardly erased.

How might an American neophyte go about introducing himself to Doctor Who? The sheer volume of material is overwhelming.

To many (especially in America I'm told), the Tom Baker era is considered the 'classic' Doctor. I'd start there - possibly with Planet of the Spiders which is actually a good series and ends with the Third Doctor's (Jon Pertwee) regeneration into the Fourth (Tom Baker). Some personal favourites in the Fourth Doctor's era are: The Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks and Pyramids of Mars.

They say everybody's favorite Doctor is the first one you saw. I'll go along with the end of Pertwee into the first few years of Tom Baker because of my favorite companion, Sarah Jane Smith. They even brought the actress and character back in season two of the New Doctor. As much as I like Tom, the new show has been spectacular with the BBC seeming to spend as much per episode as they used to for a full season.

Iowa Public tv showed the first two Eccleston episodes last night; one pledge break in the middle of "Rose" and "End of the World" break-free. No SciFi Channel commercials or crawls or voice-overs on the closing credits. Plus they will be running the Doctor Who Confidential shorts of behind the scenes stuff with each episode to help fill out the hour. Has anybody bought the DVDs? Do they have the Confidential backstage stuff along with the episodes? Unfortunately, the DVDs are out of my price range and although I recorded them all off SciFi I'm planning to make better copies from my PBS.

They say everybody's favorite Doctor is the first one you saw. I'll go along with the end of Pertwee into the first few years of Tom Baker because of my favorite companion, Sarah Jane Smith. They even brought the actress and character back in season two of the New Doctor.

I believe she has her own spin-off series, though it's primarily for kids.

They say everybody's favorite Doctor is the first one you saw. I'll go along with the end of Pertwee into the first few years of Tom Baker because of my favorite companion, Sarah Jane Smith. They even brought the actress and character back in season two of the New Doctor. As much as I like Tom, the new show has been spectacular with the BBC seeming to spend as much per episode as they used to for a full season.

Iowa Public tv showed the first two Eccleston episodes last night; one pledge break in the middle of "Rose" and "End of the World" break-free. No SciFi Channel commercials or crawls or voice-overs on the closing credits. Plus they will be running the Doctor Who Confidential shorts of behind the scenes stuff with each episode to help fill out the hour. Has anybody bought the DVDs? Do they have the Confidential backstage stuff along with the episodes? Unfortunately, the DVDs are out of my price range and although I recorded them all off SciFi I'm planning to make better copies from my PBS.

The Confidential shorts are all on the DVDs, and they're collected so you can watch them individually or all at once.

I grew up with Tom Baker. I think the first batch of US-syndicated episodes hit PBS in the early 80s, and the package started with "Robot" (Baker's first ep). I can remember seeing it on easter in...oh, 1981 or 82?

As for the new show, I don't like it as much. ...I'd say 1 in 3 is worth watching more than once.

Heh...I'm watching Robot as we speak. Great stuff.

To be honest the new series is a mixed bag. While I think that both Eccleston and Tennant have been stellar as The Doctor, the series is a little soulless at times. Sadly, I think that's just a reflection of the times - the majority of viewers in the iGeneration seem to want something fast, simple and forgettable and the producers still need to sell the program. That said, there's some cracking writing in there at times.

And there's always the Big Finish productions to listen to which are a little more faithful to the old 'style' and well worth a listen.

What are the Big Finish productions? Are those the audio-only stories? If so, how many of them have there been, which Doctors are represented and are they available through Amazon? Do those include Slipback? I think that's the right title. I heard part of it on a public radio station years ago with Colin Baker and Nicola something as Peri, but never did hear the whole thing.